Unlucky 13 for Stormers
1 Feb 2006
A glance through the Stormers squad suggests that outside centre is covered by three Springboks, but with Marius Joubert and De Wet Barry still likely to miss the opening encounter with the Cats, coach Kobus van der Merwe has a poser.
Joubert and Jean de Villiers rotated at 13 throughout the Super 12 last season, but with De Villiers’ subsequent success at international level one closer to the scrum, Van der Merwe has opted to give him first crack at jersey 12.
Keo.co.za revealed the thinking behind the decision weeks ago, when sources confirmed that Barry would be shifted to outside centre. With Joubert expected to be back in time for the opening trip to Johannesburg, Van der Merwe’s dilemma concerned who to leave out rather than who to include.
The situation differs now.
With Barry and Joubert still sidelined, Van der Merwe only has arguably his fourth and fifth choice centres as options.
Bolander Piet van Zyl was horrendous against the Bulls and not much better against the Spears. His poor distribution was especially notable. The other option, the ever-present Gus Theron, did not advance his cause by knocking-on the first ball he received against the Spears – a habit he’s become well associated with.
Defensively, too, Theron is a liability. The defensive pattern employed by the Stormers places particular strain on the No 13, because of the immensity of space the outside centre occupies. Composure and remaining in alignment are critical factors, neither of which Theron has exhibited throughout the last few seasons.
The choice before him does not inspire confidence, and thus Van der Merwe would have been buoyed by the sight of Barry jogging with his team-mates yesterday during the Swellendam training camp.
Speaking to Die Burger, Barry confirmed that he was not giving up hope of starting against the Cats, even though the odds were still in favour of a return against the Waratahs a week later.
“I’m feeling good and believe I’ll be ready, but if not, I will definitely play in the second match,” Barry said.
“It’s not the ideal situation to start the season without playing any warm-up matches, but rather now than in the middle of the season.”
Barry also stressed that he would have little problem slotting in at 13.
“Ive played outside centre on this level before. I played outside centre for the Stormers a few times in 2003 and prior to that in a Test for the Springboks in 2002.
“The defensive lines differ, but you quickly get used to this in training. And I won’t just play on the outside. The plan is that Jean and I rotate depending on the planned move and game situation.”
Barry was typically cautious when asked to assess the squad’s chances in the extended Super 14.
“I don’t want to create too high expectations, but I like the work ethics and team spirit of this squad.
“There are good structures in place and our preparations have been good. Given this background, I believe we can go far.”
The team returns to Cape Town this evening.
44 Comments
1 Feb 2006, 09:36 am
What bout Chavanga at 13 against the cats?
1 Feb 2006, 09:40 am
Huia Edmonds has played centre before in Oz
1 Feb 2006, 09:42 am
I don’t think Barry must rush things , first make sure that knee is 100% ok. Rather play one or two games without him. Why is Maruis taking so long to recover ? We need a steady backline this year and we don’t need any injuries early in the season. I hope they get Barry ready and i hope he stays injury free. Would like to see him tackle like 3 years back , and taking gaps in the midfield.
1 Feb 2006, 09:52 am
I wish Gus Theron can read this – you are a fakking doos!
With the Cats having a big Jacques Fourie starting at 13, guess what channel they will be targeting for the whole match if Gus or Piet starts!
1 Feb 2006, 09:54 am
Thanks goodness this problem exists against EASY opponents like the Cats. The Stormers could play Bolla in the centre and the Stormers would still thump the Cats.
1 Feb 2006, 09:54 am
what about Aplon?????
1 Feb 2006, 10:05 am
God help us if the gas and piet are the two starting centers …
oerrrrrr …….. will make for a nerve wracking saturday afternoon.
WTF is gus still doing there, maybe this is his LAST chance at redemption.
lets hope he makes a good crack at it …. what are the chances….
Prove me wrong Gus ? Please
1 Feb 2006, 10:05 am
Play Peter Grant at 13 and use that other guy from where ? to play at flyhalf ? who’s he again ?
1 Feb 2006, 10:08 am
Has Grant EVER played 13 ?
1 Feb 2006, 10:10 am
bigg,
Mallett will answer you very quickly, he is too small…hehehe
1 Feb 2006, 10:12 am
BlueWhiteblackand full of kak ha ha
you recon they will thump the Cats?
Fancxy taking a wager?
1 Feb 2006, 10:14 am
snoop , think he will make a impact , nice and stong runner. If they can’t find anyone than they must use him untill Barry and Marius are back at full strenght. Not sure if he can play centre , would have loved to see him play there for one or two games
1 Feb 2006, 10:15 am
Seconds has the attributes of a good 13
1 Feb 2006, 10:15 am
snoop – don’t even tempt fate by asking for Gus to get it right, he shouldn’t even be in there squad…..
1 Feb 2006, 10:19 am
Stormer,
Seems like a good idea, but he is also not a favourite of Mallett…
1 Feb 2006, 10:29 am
wls
I’m game for a wager- how about this.
The loser posts a MASSIVE apology on keo to all the winning teams’ fans, inlcluding enthusiastic praise for the winning team??
1 Feb 2006, 10:31 am
ag play gus man, as it looks now jorrie will run out at 10 for the cats so the ball will never go to 12 anycase.
1 Feb 2006, 10:33 am
I agree with brumbyVI play huia edmonds at 13 if injuries persist he may be slower than gus but at least the they wont have to scrum down or turn over posession whenever gus gets passed the ball. LOL
1 Feb 2006, 10:33 am
Let us see….
With Gus at centre, reality says that the Stormers are playing against 16 men! How can a proffesional organisation allow this to happen?
Because Gus’s mother is fakking Koos Basson or maybe it is his granny. Mallett you are starting to stink of **** you loser!
1 Feb 2006, 10:34 am
Andre
One cannot just play him at center … he needs to understand the position.
Ig … I so hear you, BUT, he is in the squad, and kak as he is, lets hope he pulls it together.
We need him to, as reality is that he may run on agains the cats ….. Heeeeeellpppppp.
1 Feb 2006, 10:36 am
Chris, with the last Nick Mallett interview a lot of questions was asked about this f**king ******* Gus. Keo did not even bother to present those questions to NM, saying that he was only playing out his contract. See for yourself: http://blog.keo.co.za/archives/2005/09/the_nick_mallet.php
Now WTF is he still doing here? Maybe Keo can answer this, since he was so clever not to present our questions to NM. Maybe Keo can pay out Gus’s contract, since Keo basically promised us we won’t see Gus again come 2006.
Another thing, if EVER Nick was to answer questions again, do NOT ignore the questions about Gus!!!!!!
1 Feb 2006, 10:37 am
Aplon is good enough – I cant see why he cant play at 13… He is 1000000 x better than old Gussy boy
1 Feb 2006, 10:40 am
PA
Haha! Thats great news that way the only way the cats will get the ball to 12 is via the grubber. I cant believe that Ludeke said that jorries best position was 12 last season i mean he is the definition of tunnel vision he just doesnt seem to even see the other 14 teamates on the field with him. Must say though that if i had to choose if i wanted gus or jorrie on my team id choose jorrie not a bad winger- big strong and quick and he really doesnt need to pass that much on the wing LOL.
1 Feb 2006, 10:41 am
Play Schalk Brits on 13.
Cheers
1 Feb 2006, 10:44 am
agree redox – jorrie is not nearly as kak as gus, we just need to make ourselves feel better hence we target jorrie.
1 Feb 2006, 10:49 am
Agree with Ballas!
Keo, you have some serious explaining to do. Looks like Keo and Gus are both stroking Nick the right way. Talk about threesomes…
1 Feb 2006, 12:14 pm
The Stormers website has Rayno Benjamin as a wing/centre. If he can play 13 then I think that they should try it.
1 Feb 2006, 12:31 pm
Should have this backline:
15- Sicknote/Aplon(too small for Mallet)
14- Benjamin
13- Seconds /JDV
12-JDV/ Greeff
11-Nokwe
10-Grant/Naas
I would move Greeff to 12, he is at least better than Gus, JDV to 13 and either Chavanga or Aplon to 15. or maybe even Naas Olivier to 15. Not bad?
1 Feb 2006, 12:34 pm
wpw – i am sure Mallet mentioned he has noticed both Aplon and Frolick and he believes both have enormus potential – from what i saw of Aplon playing for Stellenbosch and Wp last year – he deserves to be playing for us……
1 Feb 2006, 12:40 pm
Ig, the problem is that Mallet is a chop and he doesnt give youngsters like those 2 a chance. He rather keeps sicknote and Gus in the squad at the expense of these guys…
I hope Gus doesnt play cos then our chances are not good…
1 Feb 2006, 12:48 pm
wpw – i agree with you but i think the WP ouens are kaking for relegation….hopefully the current coaching regime won’t be caught like Gert was last year and pick players to replace players not performing….ala Gus and SickNote…
1 Feb 2006, 12:59 pm
Sarel Potgieter…? I thought he was supposed to be the shism!!
1 Feb 2006, 13:00 pm
and what happened to the robbie fleck wannabee?
Whatshisname who played UCT
1 Feb 2006, 13:00 pm
Bobby Skinstad for 13….NOT!
1 Feb 2006, 13:32 pm
yeah Charlie, I’ve noticed that.
Pity
1 Feb 2006, 13:45 pm
Smellthis
I think the wp guys think sarel is too small for centre as well they are a bit obsessed with size i think.
1 Feb 2006, 14:06 pm
I see. So in WP selection meeting:
Player 1: Medium size, quick, can tackle, can pass, can think, can play.
Player 2: Big…um..thats about it.
Selector: Cool bru, like we’ll take #2
GO CHEETAHS
1 Feb 2006, 15:07 pm
SA should make a list of specialst centres. And create sharing pools. With other positions too.
The Cats for eg have G EsterHuizen, J Fourie, W Julie, D SwartBooi, and even Jorrie. There should be a sharing clause whereby the Stomers could have a centre from the cats until their centres have recovered.
Even in the pack they should have a sharing facility for forwards etc. The Bulls should realease players to the other Sa franchise!
Otherwise the S14 will be full of mis-matches again. Seeing as ruugby is proffesional now if a company had offices all over the shop and one was missing a manager and another office had 2, well you get the picture.
Each team should have specialists, or near enuff, in each position. The Bulls have 3 flyhalves at the moment and the cats have none.
They do this in the Premiership in UK, they loan other clubs players.
1 Feb 2006, 15:25 pm
I think that the load system could work – one of the main reason SA teams don’t do well in super 12 was that there was always one teams the whipping team (normally an SA team) – which gave the Oz and NZ teams an edge as teh SA teams have to win more away games. We are already looking to see which SA team is going to be last and the ‘whipping’ team.
All our teams can play well and should be able to beat the other teams – fair we know that no team will win all there games (If i recall this was only ever done once) so it’s a matter of working out which games are your team can loose – I few years back the Stormers did this and put a 2nd team out against teh Crusaders in NZ – sure they picked up a lot of flack from the NZ media and the reason they gave was ‘we rotate our players’ maybe the Stromers are going to do this again?
1 Feb 2006, 16:16 pm
all stormers, it was actually against the Highlanders in 99. We lost the game but finished 2nd on the log behind the Reds i think…
1 Feb 2006, 16:18 pm
ANYONE but Gus…please!!! Helluva nice guy, but worth absolutely ZERO on a rugby pitch…
1 Feb 2006, 17:03 pm
wpw – sorry you are correct – the piont I am making we need to think about how we play and do it in a clever way in order that ALL SA teams are in the top half of the table. We don’t need to go out and try and out muscle everyone on the park. By doing this we can play the ‘filler players that can hold there own – but not not the best’. If we look at any Oz or NZ side they have good players (but non less than any SA side) and it’s the way they use there fringe players what gets them above the SA teams. We get our players to play themselves into a deadbeat, but we should look at using them the whole season. With this in mind I think Stormers will have a good season as they did not play in CC final and lot of there players have had a reasonable break. Then maybe it won’t be a SA team holding the table up.
1 Feb 2006, 17:17 pm
Rotate all three. Each playing only 2/3rds of the time. That should see them fresh for the team that really counts.
Boks
2 Feb 2006, 15:56 pm
Has someone like Greef ever played in the outside centre position? If that’s possible I think that that would really stabilise the team. We have an abundance of quick wingers in the Cape, so maybe moving Chavanga to fullback would also give us more attacking options…just no high balls for him-PLEASE!
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